“Granna Epperson” KSL High 5 - Answer to Wednesday Challenge

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“Granna Epperson” will be honored on the KSL High 5 on Tuesday, December 20, at 5:45 a.m. You won’t want to miss this touching episode.

Beth Alice Waller Epperson was born on February 17,1927, in Salt Lake City, Utah at home in a house on 3300 South in East Mill Creek. She weighed five pounds and was so small she fit in her Grandfather's new boots box. Her parents put Beth on the oven door of the coal stove to keep her warm.

Beth’s family was quite poor. In 1929, all of the banks closed and her dad lost all of his money. They lived on an acre of land, so her Dad grew lots of vegetables and every kind of fruit grown in Utah. He raised three pigs, four chickens, and five rabbits. Her mother made all of their clothes, often out of old clothes.

Some of the prices in 1927, the year Beth was born, are the following: Bread $.09 a loaf, Ground Beef $.13 a pound, Eggs $.14 a dozen, Gas $.12 a gallon. A new car cost $495 and the average income was $2,400 a year. When Beth was 12, her best friend's mother, Phoebe Castleton, gathered the primary girls and taught them how to knit. This was the beginning of a lifelong talent.

Beth married Robert John Epperson on August 29, 1947, in her sorority house at the University of Utah. They were married for 68 years and have 2 children, Robert and Elizabeth, and 10 grandchildren, and 38 great grandchildren. Grandpa Epperson passed away in April of 2015.

In 1960, Granna Epperson bought the Knit Wits shop for $1,800. Knit Wits was a shop where people came to earn how to knit. Knit Wits became a profitable business. Her talents have blessed many people. Granna Epperson knit a Christmas stocking for every member of her family and has made hundreds more over the years.

When she and Bob lived in Twin Falls, Idaho, she started making patchwork quilts. In the early 1990's she started counting what she had given to Primary Children's Hospital, homeless shelters, kindergarten children, Africa, etc. and counted over 971 quilts.

Granna Epperson's whole life has been dedicated to serving others. She has volunteered in many hospitals and church callings. She served two LDS missions with her husband to St. George, Utah and to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Granna and Grandpa Epperson traveled the world and have been to 77 different countries. She has had a wonderful, adventurous 89 years!

Congratulations to Crystal Ortiz on winning this week’s “Where are we Wednesday?” challenge.